


Five Times Five Confesses And One Time Sam Confesses

by EchoesofMemory



Category: Zombies Run!
Genre: 5 + 1 Fic, Abel Township, Agender!Runner Five, Other, Runner Five is trying, Sam Yao is oblivious, short fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-01
Updated: 2020-04-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:15:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23431525
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EchoesofMemory/pseuds/EchoesofMemory
Summary: Five likes Sam. According to Maxine, Sam kinda obviously likes Five back.So why is Five having so much trouble?
Relationships: Maxine Myers & Sam Yao, Runer Five & Simon Lauchlan, Runner Five & Jody Marsh, Runner Five & Maxine Myers, Runner Five/Sam Yao
Comments: 2
Kudos: 30





	Five Times Five Confesses And One Time Sam Confesses

**Author's Note:**

> Welp, this wasn't what I expected to happen when we all got locked down due to the Plague of 2020, but here we are.
> 
> Boredom on the exercise I can do (mostly walking, curse my immune system and its weakness to cold and wet!) lead me back to Zombies, Run and now I want to go on walks after getting done with a walk.
> 
> My Runner Five is agender, and uses Ey/Eir/Em pronouns.
> 
> So, uh... enjoy?

1\. Bookstore

The first time Five proposes, ey have returned from raiding a bookstore with Runner 7.

Ey walk up to Sam, holding a copy of Lord of the Rings, which ey hand to him. “Will you be the Samwise Gamgee to my Frodo Baggins?”

Sam looks at em. “Eh? What are you talking about, Five?”

Ey roll eir eyes and toss eir arm around his shoulders. “Don’t worry about it.”

2\. Stars

The second time, Five barely makes it under the gate as ey’re chased by a horde of zombies in the deepening dark of sunset. Ey collapse, panting, on the dirt, shorts and tank making Maxine’s post run bite check easy.

Sam comes to check on em after a while, as ey haven’t moved. “Five, are you alright?”

Ey tilt eir head to look at him. “I’m fine, Sam. The stars are pretty tonight.”

He tilts his head back to look at them, trying to see what ey see. “Huh. I guess they are.”

He looks back down to find Five staring at him, a strange look on eir face. “What is it, Five?”

“Sam,” ey say seriously, “I would give you the stars if you asked.”

He frowns at em. “That’s a weird thing to say, Five. Are you sure you don’t need to see the doc?”

Ey sigh. “No, Sam. I’m fine. Give me a hand up?”

As he takes the hand ey hold out to help em to eir feet, he can’t help but feel like he’s missing something.

3\. Music

Since Eugene and Jack had started on the air, their radio show had become incredibly popular, enough so that Janine had reluctantly allowed them to host a party occasionally. They would take requests, and the citizens of Abel would use it as a chance to relax a little and try to forget the apocalypse happening around them.

The first couple of hours were child-friendly – fun but not explicit party music, non-alcoholic drinks, that sort of thing. There was generally one request for the Cha Cha Slide, and as they attempted to keep up, people laughed and cheered.

The real party started once all the kids had been sent off to bed. The music got more explicit, the alcohol flowed, and people started to get a little crazy.

It was at this atmosphere that Five decided to try again.

Ey sidle up to Sam after making a very special request to Eugene and Jack, and ask quietly, “Would you dance with me?”

Sam jumps, nearly spilling his drink (non-alcoholic; barring very few occasions, Samuel Yao doesn’t drink. Five’s run through the dark was one of the few times he had done his best to get black out drunk) and turns towards em. “Jesus, Five, you’re so quiet! I should put a bell on you. Though that would be bad when you’re running, though, wouldn’t it?”

Ey sigh. “Sam. Yes or no to dancing?”

Sam winces. “I’m… not the best dancer, Five. I may hit you accidentally or something. Best not to embarrass myself, yeah?”

Ey look at him, head tilted, before smiling slowly and, dare Sam say it, seductively. “I don’t mind.”

Sam flushes and, lacking anything else to do, sets his drink down and takes Five’s outstretched hand.

As they make it onto the makeshift dance floor, the song currently playing ends, and Eugene begins to speak. “Well, listeners, I hope you enjoyed that. Next up, we have a special request. Here we go!”

Five pulls Sam close and drapes eir arms around his shoulder. His hands automatically go to eir hips as A Thousand Years begins to play.

“I have died, everyday, waiting for you,” Five sings along, crooning into Sam’s ear.

Sam feels himself flush in response, but enjoys both the song and the closeness, as long as they last.

4\. Present

Five doesn’t understand Demons and Darkness, but ey like listening as people play in Janine’s living room. They stories are interesting, ey find, and the sound of people laughing, cheering, and despairing is a distraction from what lives in eir head.

This, of course, leads to the situation ey find emself in a couple weeks later, as ey’re doing a supply run through the mall.

“Alright, Five, you’ve got a couple of shamblers, on your tail, nothing to worry about really, just keep on moving,” Sam says, and ey feel eir heart swell, his voice in eir ears.

As ey’re running, ey scan for both supplies and enemies, and stop suddenly when ey spot them – Demons and Darkness tokens, ones Sam was wishing he had had at the last game.

“Five?” Sam’s worried voice jolts em back to reality, just in time to dodge a zombie swipe. “Five, what’s wrong, what did you see?”

Ey move around the zombie and towards the store, spotting one of the cameras and shaking eir head for Sam. It’s easy to vanish from the cameras, less so to break into the store without alerting every zom in the building, but ey manage it, and continue eir run with the tokens and a few extra figurines tucked in eir pack safely before ey return to Sam’s sight and continue eir mission.

Ey’re thrumming as ey return home and go through the post-mission routine. Ey pass off eir supplies, keeping back Sam’s present, and head out to find Maxine for help.

“Five? What is it?” The doctor’s concern rapidly turns to understanding when Five presents the tokens and figurines with a pathetic look, and she laughs.

“I don’t think we have wrapping paper now, Five, but you could put it in a box and paint it,” she suggests.

Five frowns. “I wanted to give it to him tonight...”

“Then you’ll probably have to skip packaging,” Maxine informs em, then shoos em out.

Ey take a deep breath, then head for the comms shack, knocking gently on the door.

“Come in!”

Ey push eir way in, trying eir best to be quiet in case Sam is busy, but a quick glance reveals he’s relaxing in his chair.

Ey walk quickly to him and dump the packages on his lap. “Here.”

He startles at that. “Five! What are you doi- are these Demons and Darkness tokens? And figurines? Five?”

Ey look at him and smile. “I would fight through the horde a hundred times if it meant bringing you something that makes you smile, Sam.”

He goes bright red and starts stammering. Ey lean forward and kiss his cheek, then turn around – ey’re tired, and can hear eir bunk calling.

5\. Flowers

Ey slump in the chair in what passes as Maxine’s office. “I thought I was being obvious.”

Maxine snorts. “Sure thing, Five. You might have to go a bit more traditional.”

Five frowns at Maxine and asks grumpily, “Like what? It’s the zombie apocalypse, Maxine, I can’t take him for a ride in my dad’s car and try to kiss him while we watch a movie or something.”

Maxine’s return look is dry. “I think you’ve been reading too many ‘coming of age’ novels, Five. Have you thought of flowers?”

Five’s frown turns thoughtful, and ey stand to wander out of the doctor’s office. “No, no I haven’t. Thanks, Maxine.”

Maxine stops to watch em leave, and does her best to ignore the sense of foreboding that passes over her.

It takes Five three hours to work out a plan, and another to track down people to help em. Jody is easy – she loves the thought of the romance of it. Sara wants em to come along on a supply run with her later, which ey agree to easily – ey enjoy smashing zombie heads with her, so it’s not such a big deal. Simon wants a kiss, and after ey nearly break his hand, settles instead for a bottle of whiskey. Luckily, ey have one hidden away.

It takes the four of them a week and a half to get the supplies, and Five works hard to set it up while Jody and Sara complete a fuel run.

After the pair staggers in, Sam leaves the comms shack to check on them, and steps out into a field of flowers. He stares, boggled at it, though on closer inspection, the flowers are fake, and looks around bewildered.

Five smiles at him as he finally notices em, and says, “Sam, I enjoy your company.”

He steps closer, wary and confused. “Yeah? I enjoy yours, too, Five, but… where did you get the flowers? How did you get them? … When did you get them?”

Ey step closer and tilt eir head up to look him in the eye. “Sam, I want to always be able to enjoy your company.”

He blinks at em, completely nonplussed. “I’m not going anywhere, Five. Besides, you know you’re my best friend.”

Five is not the only one who groans at that.

The flowers get repurposed as a cheerful sort of decoration around Abel, though people question why Jody, Maxine, and Five scowl whenever they see them.

+1. Sam

Five gave up after the flowers. Sam just didn’t understand, and trying was frustrating. Ey would enjoy his friendship and pine, and be happy about it.

That, of course, didn’t explain why Sam was waiting for em outside the kitchen, blushing bright red and watching his shoes.

“Sam?” Five asks hesitantly, running eir mind through the past day to see what could possibly cause him to look like that.

Sam takes a deep breath and looks at Five, staring determinedly into eir eyes. “Five. So, em, Maxine cornered me yesterday, and explained what, exactly, you had been doing. And, I just want to say, I’m sorry I didn’t notice. I don’t want to disappoint you -”

Feeling eir stomach sinking to eir shoes, Five interrupts him. “It’s fine, Sam, you don’t have to say it, we can just -”

But Sam raises his voice, continuing as his blush gets worse, “-and I know I can’t be your first choice – I’m oblivious, and you’re brave and wonderful and amazing, and I kept thinking it was all in my head, because how could you like me, and what I’m bumbling about here, Five, is that I like you, like as in like like you, and if you’d be very amenable, I’d like to spend whatever time we have left in this mess trying to make up my mistakes to you, and try.”

And everything stops, for a moment, and ey can see the hope and affection in Sam’s eyes, and suddenly ey’re crying and lunging for Sam, only one clear thought ringing in eir head, and out eir mouth.

“Yes! Yes, yes, yes!”

And Sam is smiling and his eyes are definitely wet, too, but he opens his arms for em, and then they’re kissing right outside the mess tent.

Distantly, ey can hear Jody and Maxine celebrating, and the rest of the township is cheering, but eir focus is on the wonderful and impossible man ey’re holding and still kissing.

Ey make a mental note to work on Sam’s self confidence later, but ey have all the time in the apocalypse now to do so, and ey just want to fully enjoy this beautiful moment with the man ey love.


End file.
